Norway’s mass killer faces a maximum jail term of just 21 years. Astonishingly, that is the longest sentence available to judges in Norway’s benevolent justice system.

In England and Wales, repeat killers can be told they will die behind bars with a ‘whole life’ tariff, and killers who use a knife or gun face minimum terms of 25 and 30 years.

But in Norway, few killers serve more than 14 years.

Even those given the maximum term can be released after two-thirds of their sentence, and many are given unsupervised weekend parole after just one third.

Only in exceptional cases, if officials consider a prisoner is still highly dangerous, will sentences be extended for additional five-year blocks.

Norway’s incarceration rates – the number of people jailed per head of population – are among the lowest in Europe. Some 66 are behind bars for every 100,000 citizens, less than half the figure for the UK.